The 7 Developments Of Digital Publishing In 2015

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Digital publishing is one of the biggest growth areas in business. The demand for quality content is rising, meaning that we've seen an increase in the amount of companies producing, sharing and driving content across online platforms.

This increase in demand and development saw advanced technologies and publishing techniques reach new heights in 2014, but what can we expect from 2015?

Self Publishing

Blogs and small articles have been at the core of many company content strategies, but this will change in 2015 as consumers appetite for online magazines and white papers increase.

Videos and podcasts are also likely to be central to any self-publishing strategy, as companies look to engage their audiences in new, dynamic ways.

A Need For Better Quality

Due to the sheer amount of content that's produced, people are now looking for reasons not to read something. Articles with eye catching titles were all the rage last year, with 'click baiting' becoming a viable way for companies to drive traffic to their website.

With today's consumers as savvy as they've ever been, spotting a bold headline that's likely to lead to an advertorial is something that many have become experts in. Due to this, it's imperative that companies produce high-end content that breeds trust within their readership.

The attention grabbing article will still drive traffic, but it won't be anywhere near as successful in 2015.

Too Much Fluff

As the number of quality articles increase, the availability of low quality articles with attention grabbing headlines will also increase.

Primarily driven through social media, Twitter has created a world were snappy headlines can cover up poor content that's solely concerned with driving traffic. The best publishers however will utilise their 140 characters in order to push good content and build trust.

The likely perpetrators of these articles will be companies who are not necessarily looking to educate, or even entertain, but who simply want to increase traffic to grow advertising revenues.

Taking Content One Step Further

With companies putting extra emphasis on the quality of their work, there will be an increase in opinionated writing, the use of video and well targeted native advertising.

Publishers will look to create content for a targeted audience as well as understanding the device they are reading through. Using data will help publishers ensure that they drive specific content to the right audience and importantly, at the right time.

Moving To The Crest Of The Wave

Traditional publishers have the best staff and resources to create original digital content, but whilst their content is high in quality, their ability to leverage new technologies left a lot to be desired before 2014. We saw this change in 2014, and we predict that this trend will continue going into 2015.

In order to gain the vital advertising revenue that they rely on, traditional publishers will continue to implement new technologies and incorporate new and emerging platforms. Analytics is also providing traditional publishing companies with the means to better track, analyse and understand their audience. As they adopt new technologies, different approaches and techniques will have to be introduced, not only to maximize their profitability, but in many cases to simply stay in business.

Video is also a key area, with the emergence of video advertising supplying yet another channel for publishers, especially if it can be combined with the written word and integrated into a multi-content strategy.

Conquering Mobile

Mobile is the main battleground for companies competing for new readers and followers.

There's been considerable growth in the amount of time adults spend consuming media (a 13% increase since 2010), with the amount of adults using mobile devices as their platform of choice increasing to 23.3%.

Several companies have made the initial steps to capitalize on this, but there is still some way to go before its potential is fully realized. This is not necessarily through the consumption of the media itself, but instead the way that it's monetized. This is because mobile devices have small screens, meaning that if you attempt to include content and advertising, it generally tends to look convoluted and confusing to the consumer.

We have seen the prominence of video and mobile grow simultaneously, creating a significant opportunity for publishers and video solution companies. 2015 will see an increase in the amount of experimentation around this area, which will help publishers maximize their advertising revenues. Whether 2015 will be the year where the perfect mix is found remains uncertain, but one thing we are sure of is that many publishers will try to get this balance right.

Data-Driven Content

2014 saw yet another rise in the amount of data driven articles being created, allowing publishers to create their own content based on what their customers want to see.

As the use of data becomes more complex and the understanding of customers becomes more in-depth, we are likely to see data becoming one of the key drivers to successful content creation. It will give publishers a better understanding of what their customers want, and allow them to build successful content strategies

Attention metrics will be one of the key buzzwords for 2015, as advertisers and publishers look to produce better content which more readily engages with their customers.

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